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Topic: How Long Does It Take To Understand Anxiety.....PROPERLY (Read 353 times)

Just A general question. Being Married To Someone who suffers From Anxiety. What would be the General Time someone would put on it. It has took me almost 2 years to properly understand it. I was one of those people that when asked if he knew what anxiety was I would put my hand up but when asked if i actually understand it well i didnt and it has taken me 2 years to really understand it. What are others views on understanding.

To experience an anxiety attack is the only real way to ever understand it. There are ways to do this. But they might be a bit dangerous. Making yourself hyperventilate and feeling how an anxiety sufferer would feel at times. They would be just the feelings. There is also the thoughts. That side of things you may never understand fully. The mind of an anxiety sufferer. If you don't like roller coasters I would say to get on one. If you don't like one you would feel fear on one. Your body would send signals of fear to your mind. Then your mind would react to those signals. You can do all the reading you want. But to feel such fear is the only real way to know what we go through. Just be supportive. You seem like a good person who wants to be there for your partner. That is good enough.

I'm 5 years in and still learning. I spent at least 6 months thinking it was claustrophobia. Or work stress. Or hypersensitivity to lightning (weird, I know, but as a child he survived a lightning strike and I thought that the electrical sensations he felt were from a storm coming in.) He does things that actually tell me he has an anxiety attack brewing before he even knows it--he clears his throat a lot. He wiggles his nose strangely. He gets a weird grimace on his face. I don't understand what it feels like for him, but I can warn him so he takes his medication.